From now through March 31, annual passholders can enjoy a three-lap ride along experience free at the Richard Petty Driving Experience. Retailing for over $100, this experience is limited to one time per passholder, aged 14 and above (under 18 requires a parental guardian).

Shuttle service to the Richard Petty Speedway is available at the Transportation and Ticket Center.

On February 6, Universal Orlando Resort will kick off its 15th year of Mardi Gras – the biggest and most authentic Mardi Gras celebration outside of New Orleans. Guests will experience the spirit of Bourbon St. in the heart of Universal Studios, with festivities including live concerts by artists like Flo Rida, Sheryl Crow and Chicago, authentic Cajun cuisine, a spectacular parade and tons of beads.

With a combined total of more than half a billion records sold worldwide, this year’s Mardi Gras lineup features an eclectic mix of 13 of the biggest names in music. From hip-hop to pop, country to rock, and R&B to disco, there will be something for everyone. Along with Flo Rida, Sheryl Crow and Chicago, Mardi Gras guests will enjoy live performances by headliners like “The Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin, country sensation Dierks Bentley, hip-hop artist Akon, multi-platinum selling rock band 3 Doors Down and the No. 1 selling American band of all time, Beach Boys.

In addition to seeing top-name talent perform on the main stage, guests can also visit Universal’s very own “French Quarter” – a replica of the New Orleans’ famed district – and groove to the authentic bayou sounds of bands directly from New Orleans.

To commemorate this special year, guests will enjoy a heritage-themed Mardi Gras parade featuring new colorful renditions of floats from past year’s events. Universal worked with New Orleans-based Blaine Kern Artists, Inc. to incorporate new elements into some of the most memorable floats in the event’s history. The twelve vibrant floats will cruise the streets of Universal Studios during the festivities, filled with riders tossing beads by the handful to excited park guests.

Guests will also enjoy the aroma and taste of authentic Cajun cuisine – such as jambalaya, gumbo, beignets and king cake – along with hundreds of costumed characters and stilt walkers dancing and mingling in the streets. Party-goers will also enjoy Universal Studios’ most popular attractions, including the all-new Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit – a radically-innovative roller coaster that combines hit music, first-ever maneuvers and highly-sophisticated audio and video for a one-of-a-kind ride experience.

Walt Disney Records’ country music arm, Lyric Street, has launched an official website for its 15 year old country star-to-be Tyler Dickerson. The website, which can be found at TylerLovesRadio.com (or TDLovesRadio.com) currently serves up a small photo gallery, a lengthy video featuring Tyler and his ‘life story,’ a bio and clips of several of Tyler’s songs including Just Like Hank, She’d Be You, Tell Your Sister I’m Single, Cowboys and Soldiers and Faster I Go, all presumably to be found on Tyler’s debut album. You’ll also find links to Tyler’s already established MySpace page as well as emerging pages on other social media sites.

When Project Runway makes its seventh season debut on Lifetime on January 14, one of its contestants may seem familiar to millions of people worldwide. Designer hopeful / actor Jesse LeNoir, 25, who makes Orlando his home, counts being a performer in the Captain Jack Sparrow Pirate Tutorial at the Magic Kingdom among his previous jobs.

Below is Jesse’s home visit video giving some insight into his home life. For more information and videos from Jesse, visit his Project Runway bio page.

It will require a 3D capable television and a 3D capable blu-ray player, but The Hollywood Reporter has relayed Disney’s announcement that the newly established Blu-ray 3D standard will be embraced and rushed to market beginning with at least three releases this year (all presumably around the holiday season): A Christmas Carol, Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story 3. Perhaps it’s too soon, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Disney/Pixar’s UPthrown into the mix shortly thereafter either.

At D23 Expo, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment demo’d a prototype of a 3D home system from Panasonic. The home system, which uses special shutter-oriented glasses to alternate between eyes, almost faithfully recreates the current 3D movie-going experience at home.

On January 2, players and coaches from 2010 BCS National Championship teams the Alabama Crimson Tide and Texas Longhorns spent the day at the Disneyland Resort. Disneyland has furnished us with some photos from the day’s festivities featuring Texas Longhorns’ Jordan Shipley, Sergio Kindle, Roddrick Muckelroy, Lamarr Houston and Colt McCoy and Heisman Trophy Winner Mark Ingram of the Alabama Crimson Tide as well as the team’s coach, Nick Saban. And, of course, everyone’s favorite mouse was in attendance too.

As we first reported January 1, D23 now offers a multi-tiered membership option for new and existing members.

D23 has now furnished us with some additional details including some in regards to the 23-month Disney Undiscovered calendar that serves as the membership gift.

Disney Undiscovered presents rare and never-before seen images from Disney theme-park, live-action and animation projects that were not completed, many of which have achieved legendary status among Disney fans. The calendar features art from never-built project like the Mineral King ski resort and Walt Disney’s St. Louis Project; theme park lands such as Discovery Bay at Disneyland and the Switzerland pavilion at Epcot; and unproduced films including a watercolor from the original Little Mermaid that Walt had in early pre-production in the late 1930s.

In an agreement announced at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, Sony has signed on to be an official sponsor of ESPN’s new 3D network. Additionally, Sony will be the exclusive 3D sponsor of the 2011 BCS National Championship Game, 13 regular season college football games, and Summer X Games, where ESPN will utilize Sony professional HD cameras. The announcement was made during Sony’s annual CES press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Experiment 626 is rearing his adorable blue alien head once more in a new video game. Disney Interactive Studios today announced the upcoming release of Disney Stitch Jam, a rhythm-based music and adventure game being developed exclusively for Nintendo DS™. Scheduled for release March 2010 in North America, the DS game will introduce players to the latest adventures set in the popular world of Stitch, a classic character from the Walt Disney Pictures’ 2002 film “Lilo & Stitch.”

What happens when a cynical environmentally-unfriendly logger suddenly becomes the very object he seeks out to destroy every single day of his life? Hilarity. That’s what happens. And maybe we’ll learn a lesson or two along the way, who knows?

Disney Legend Tim Allen stars as Douglas Fir in this new family comedy from Walt Disney Studios with production value that puts Avatar to shame.